Chapter 11
IN THIS CHAPTER
Moving podcast media files to your web server
Naming your files appropriately
Keeping your FTP space neat and tidy
You've managed to figure out what it is you want to say (or show), you’ve gone through the trials and tribulations of the editing process (or not), and you’ve faithfully employed correct ID3 tagging (nonnegotiable). That's great, but no one is going to hear your contribution to the podcasting world until you put your files up on the web.
In Chapter 1, we cover the hosting provider selection process. In this chapter, we take an extensive look at the mechanics of the process, including how to appropriately name and organize your files.
Podcasters have a variety of options when it comes to uploading files. Although the methods are all different, they all help you accomplish the same job: copying files from your personal computer to their new home online. Many hosting providers have easy-to-use browser-based drag-and-drop file transfer utilities built into their service. In many cases, this may be all you need to get your files onto your server for others to consume. In this chapter, we dig a little deeper to ensure you not only know how to use the simple “Fisher-Price” way of doing things but that you understand other options to make it easier in cases where you need to maintain files for multiple shows or multiple hosting providers.
In Chapter 10, we talk about the importance of the little things, such as ID3 tags. Equally important is how you decide to name your podcast media files. In this section, we illustrate the importance, not only to you as a podcaster, but also to your listening audience. Although no hard and fast rules for naming files exist, following some common conventions allows everyone to easily find your podcasts.
A good naming convention of a podcast accomplishes the following:
my media file
doesn't help very much. Calling it Bob's Fencing Podcast
certainly does.Here's an example of a well-named podcast media file, if we do say so ourselves:
Tech_Ep500_170301.mp3
Although the structure may not be obvious, this filename adheres to both rules and even adds one more:
03
instead of 3
so that dates from October (10), November (11), and December (12) don't intermingle with January (which would happen if he used 1
instead of 01
). True, in this case the files were already sorted by episode number, but you may choose to go with the date first.Between each element, he adds an underscore (_) simply to provide a clear distinction of each part for his eye, or anyone else’s eye looking at the filename.
The following examples are from well-respected podcasters who all follow the guidelines we set forth earlier:
NMS-2017-04-01.mp3
scienceontriplej20170406.mp3
AC_EPISODE_021.mp3
TSD-075.mp3
Note how each of them identifies the name of the podcast and provides a sequential way of ordering the files. If you leave out the episode number, as in the case of the Science on Triple J file, the year of the podcast ahead of month and day also ensures that 2017 files are always grouped together. If the podcaster had used the month first, as people traditionally think of dates in the United States, files would be mixed based on the month they were released, regardless of the year.
If thinking about the date that way seems a little too strange for you, do what Chuck does — stick a sequential episode number in front of your date, and don’t worry about it.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the method by which you can transfer files from one destination to another over the Internet. You likely transfer files every day, from your desktop to your documents folder, from an email to your desktop, or even MP3 files from your podcatching client to your MP3 player.
Transferring your podcast files to and from the Internet isn't much different, at least on the surface and even at any depth necessary for podcasters to ply their trade. Lucky for you, specialty software exists to make this process even more simple. FTPing files has become as simple as dragging and dropping.
Regardless of what software, forms, or other assistance you use to move files around, the concept of FTP is the same.
FTP has been around for quite a while now. As such, archaic and seemingly nonintuitive names abound from the start — such as the following two computer systems involved:
Local host: The local host is the computer you are sitting in front of and initiating the file transfer from. If you're using a laptop to connect to your web server, your laptop is the local host. If you're at work and logged in from a workstation, your office computer is the local host.
The local directory or local path is the folder on your local host that contains the files you want to transfer. You can change local directories at will, but most FTP programs have a default starting place. Feel free to move around after that.
Remote host: The remote host is the computer or web server to which you've connected. It's likely the spot where you're trying to get your MP3 files to go to allow others to download them.
Not surprisingly, the remote host has its own remote directory (the folder on the remote system where you drop your files). Again, you can change or navigate through remote directories just as you can change the file folders on your computer.
You need three pieces of information to initiate an FTP connection:
Your hosting company should have provided this information to you. If you don't have it handy, find it. You're not going any further without it.
All FTP programs do the same job but have slightly different methods of going about it. After you grasp the concept, using just about any FTP client is a simple process. Here are the general steps you follow to set up a connection in any FTP client:
Launch your FTP client and create a new connection.
Because this step is what FTP clients are designed to do, they usually make this process very simple.
Enter the hostname of your web server, username, and password.
This step identifies the remote system and shows you have access to the files and folders it contains.
Connect using either a button or a menu option.
Depending on the speed of your connection, the connection is established in a matter of seconds.
The following sections show you how to use Cyberduck (http://cyberduck.io
), a free and handy FTP program for the Macintosh system, and FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org
), a similar program for the PC. You can find many FTP programs as freeware, shareware, and shrink-wrapped software, for every brand of modern day operating system. We picked these two for their ease of use and streamlined approach to getting the job done, but you can use the FTP program of your choice.
After you download the Cyberduck program from http://cyberduck.io
onto your Mac, you can follow these steps to set up an FTP connection in Cyberduck:
Click the New Connection button in the upper-left corner.
The Connect dialog box appears, as shown in Figure 11-1.
In the Server text box, enter the name of your server.
Depending on the requirements of your ISP, this name can be in the format of ftp.mydomainname.com
or perhaps simply my_domain_name.com
. And of course, you need to be sure and use the name or IP address of your web server. Chances are good that you don't really own the domain my_domain_name.com
, right?
Enter your Username and Password in the text boxes.
The hosting company should have provided this information. If your hosting company is the same company that is supplying your connection to the Internet, it might be the same information you use to check your email. But if you toss some additional money each week at a hosting provider, it's likely something completely different.
Select the Add to Keychain option to store your username and password for the next time you connect.
Click the Connect button in the lower-right corner.
If you entered things properly, you now see the file folders on your remote web server. If you didn't, you get an error message or a login failed dialog box. Correct what's wrong and try it again.
FileZilla (http://filezilla-project.org
) operates much the same as Windows Explorer, allowing you to drag and drop files between your PC and your FTP server. When you’ve downloaded the FileZilla program, follow these steps:
On the Login toolbar (shown in Figure 11-2), enter your server name, username, and password.
Leave the port blank. (It defaults to 21.)
Click the Quickconnect button.
If you did things right, you see a lot of text scroll by in the upper-most window and content from your web server appears in the right windows, labeled Remote Site.
Congratulations; you're now connected to your web server. If you entered something wrong, you get an error message in red text in the upper window. Correct your mistakes and try again.
From here, you can navigate through the folders on your web server much as you do on your computer's hard drive. You can move up or down the file system, finding the spot where you want to drop your podcast files.
Logging in to your web server for the first time can be an intimidating process. In this section, we show you how to place your files in a location so you can easily create links to your podcast files.
Don't be intimidated by the odd directory names on your web server. The only one you really need to know is Public_html
. Other hosts may call it www
or simply html
. If you don’t have one of those three, poke around until you find one that has a bunch of files in it that end in .html
.
You may see lots of different files and a few folders. We show you how to add even more files to this system, so now is a good time to think about organizing and housekeeping.
Start by creating a special place to keep your podcast files. Making a new folder exclusively for your podcast media files not only separates your podcasts from your other critical web server files, but it also allows you to quickly see what is currently live and what needs to be cleaned up.
In your root directory (the top-level folder usually denoted with a forward slash), create a new folder called media
. With Cyberduck, choose File ⇒ New Folder, followed by entering the name in the resulting dialog box. On FileZilla, right-click the window with the details (date, size, permissions) on the remote file server and choose Create Directory.
After you create the new media folder, double-click the name of the folder to open it. You're now inside your totally empty media folder, and ready to load it with your podcast media files.
After you set up a folder for your podcast media files and decide on a filenaming convention, you're ready to move your freshly named files to the web server.
Both Cyberduck and FileZilla support drag-and-drop file transfers. If you're new to FTP, the FTP program interface may be easier for you to use.
For Cyberduck, follow these steps:
For FileZilla, here’s what you do:
Depending on the size of your file and the speed of your Internet connection, the file may transfer in a matter of seconds or a matter of minutes. When completed, the file appears in your FTP client and is ready to be linked in your show notes and RSS 2.0 feed.
Podcast-specific hosting companies significantly simplify the uploading process; many include web-based forms that take the place of additional computer programs to handle the uploading process. They also take care of archiving, RSS 2.0 creation, and even ID3 tagging.
For the purposes of illustration, we use an account with Liberated Syndication (http://libsyn.com
) in this section. If you haven't already, you need to sign up with LibSyn and create your own account. Then follow these steps:
Click the Content menu option and select Add New Episode.
You are taken to the New Content page, as shown in Figure 11-3.
Click Upload File From Hard Drive if your files are on your local hard drive. There are other options available if your file is on another server accessible via FTP or Dropbox.
The File Upload dialog box opens.
Note: HTTP upload is another name for form-based transfers.
Find the podcast media file you want to upload and either double-click the file or select it and click Open.
If you’ve used proper ID3 tags on your podcast — and you have by this point, right? — you can check the Populate Form with ID3 Data checkbox to save some time. Just be aware that the description may need some additional formatting as the importer doesn’t recognize paragraph breaks. Also check your title and description for encoded characters. You may need to do touch-ups like replace &
with the & character.
If you did not choose to import the content of the ID3 tags, enter the information for your blog and/or podcast in the form.
The blog settings are very simple: things like the name of your blog, your email address, and what category you want it placed in. Nothing here is mission critical, so fill it out however you want to see it listed. You can always come back and change it later.
While LibSyn has full hosting capabilities, some may find the blogging feature a bit limited and use LibSyn as a file repository while hosting their blog on their own site, then referencing the files on LibSyn from their blog. To access files stored on LibSyn in your blog (and resulting RSS feed) follow the preceding steps to upload and publish the content. Then follow these steps after your file is published.